The Grubbels
For other similarly named articles, see The Grubbels (disambiguation). The Grubbels, or The Grubbles, is Xefros and Dammek's quasi-revolutionary underground punk/rock band. The two-piece outfit features Xefros as the vocal lead through a heavily-autotuned microphone (which renders his words utterly incomprehensible), and Dammek on both drums and guitar, while also functioning as the studio mixer. The Grubbels are one of the few known examples of Alternian music culture. The name is a portmanteau of "Grub" and "Rebels", reflecting the adolescent age of its members and the revolutionary themes in their music. The alternate spelling "The Grubbles" is also sometimes used (as well as being the title of their real-world EP), with Dammek being indecisive and changing the name of the band back and forth several times. As well as being a fictional band in Hiveswap, a real-world EP by veteran Homestuck and Hiveswap musician James Roach has been released under the name of the band, as well as posters and other merchandise on the What Pumpkin Store. "The Grubbles" EP was made available on bandcamp and also as a free download for Hiveswap's Kickstarter backers. Group profile The band was formed after Dammek gifted Xefros a handmade autotune microphone one 12th Perigee's Eve, informing him that 1. he'd started a band, 2. Xefros was the singer, and 3. that his voice could use a little work. Dammek appears to be the main driving force behind the band, adopting a persona of "Percussive machismo", while Xefros describes his persona as being "'skittish', as if he's vaguely terrified of the implications of his own pseudo-revolutionary rhymes". This is not without good reason, as the Grubbels' frequent lyrical themes of class uprising and lowblood rebellion are more than enough basis for execution under the Alternian regime. The Grubbel's music generally concerns the caste struggles of lowbloods within the highly stratified class groupings of the Hemospectrum. Their lyrics discuss the struggle of their respective castes under highblood tyranny, and advocate for violent uprising against the highbloods and the Heiress in particular. These themes carry through to the image the band seeks to adopt; one Grubbels poster features Xefros and Dammek posing in butler uniforms, in order to "subversively transform the rags of their oppression into the fatigues of the revolutionary through their jams", although Xefros questions whether these costumes might make them hard to be taken seriously. Discography The Grubbles The somewhat-confusingly-titled Grubbels EP "The Grubbles" is a five-track release of music by the almost-titular band. In the real world, the tracks were composed by Homestuck music team member James Roach, who, along with Toby Fox, was also responsible for the rest of the Hiveswap soundtrack. The EP was released on September 14th, 2017 at the same time as Hiveswap: Act 1. Hiveswap's Kickstarter backers could download it for free. Lyric videos for two of the songs were posted on the offical Homestuck youtube channel, written entirely in the new Alternian alphabet. This is helpful, as due to the excessive autotuning and digital processing of Xefros' microphone (an intentional choice to avoid depicting a canonical voice for Xefros), the words of the songs are otherwise entirely incomprehensible. The track list for The Grubbles is as follows: # (01:58) (Lyric video here) # (02:19) (Lyric video here) # (02:02) # (01:11) # (02:15) Known song lyrics Broom Temperature Drop to your knees, but come back up swingin Not just a broom but the truth that we're slingin Low and dirty Show y'all how to bring the hurt we Have been hurt often About now, I bet you're askin Who are these punks Or maybe you think We should fetch you a drink! Well in low-blood fashion You can suck my chitin chunk Dammek is bronze and burnished I'm just the rust Try to test our mettle And when the dust settle Your regret will be earnest And your blood spilled to stain The dust Drop to your knees, but come back up swingin Not just a broom but the truth that we're slingin Drop to your knees, but come back up swingin Not just a broom but the truth that we're slingin Low and dirty Show y'all how to bring the hurt we Are hurt by the highbloods Blood boils Blood boils Drop to your knees, but come back up swingin Not just a broom but the truth that we're slingin Drop to your knees, but come back up swingin Not just a broom but the truth that we're slingin Low and dirty Show y'all how to bring the hurt we Frondly Warning (Translated from the Alternian by Ulli Neller) You pose, all gold and gleaming A ten dressed to the nines Spongeclots deaf to our screaming And to the changing times Stay swimming in your mentions Too cold to feel what's coming Why do we mask intentions? All you hear is drumming, drumming Drumming, drumming, drumming, drumming Drumming, drumming, drumming Drumming, drumming, drumming, drumming Drumming, drumming, drumming Don't bother looking for us As if you ever would Just jam out to the chorus As if you understood We sing a song of freedom The best track is the last Liner notes, hey, did you read them? We sang your epitaph Blood boils, blood boils Blood boils, blood boils Blood boils, blood boils Blood boils, blood boils Baby queen of calamari Gonna fry and dip you Way too late to say you're sorry Way too late to fix you Gallery GrubbelsStudio.png|Xefros and Dammek spit some fresh jams in the studio. TrollBand.jpg|The Grubbels in action, performing (Hiveswap promotional art). ButlerPosterGame.png|The Grubbels pose as butlers. The text across the bottom is in the new Alternian alphabet. ButlerWPS.png|This version of the butler poster is available on the What Pumpkin Store. The caption in this version is written in the Daedric alphabet, unlike the one in the game. Grubbels poster.png|The Grubbels "Bandcestors" poster, also available on the What Pumpkin Store. WLFHoodie.png|''The Grubbles'' EP branded hoodie, available from ForFansByFans (WeLoveFine). Trivia *Many of the Grubbels posters seen in game were also available on the What Pumpkin Store. Interestingly, while the version of the "Butlers" poster in the game features text in the new Alternian alphabet (reading "The Grubbels"), the one in the What Pumpkin Store featured the same text in the old Daedric alphabet instead. **As the new Alternian alphabet replaced the Daedric alphabet sometime during Hiveswap's development (for copyright reasons), this might mean that the version available on the store was an older version of the poster from before this switch was made. Category:Hiveswap